Builder Boards

I use to love Lincoln Logs, Lego's, and other construction sets when I was a kid. I recently ran into Builder Boards and fell in love all over again. I have specified these life size 'Lincoln Logs' for a early childhood education center and I can't wait to see what they build. The loose building pieces are built to last outdoors and survive rough treatment by kids. These pieces will give kids the chance to build creatively, create endless different play spaces, learn about wood/ joints/ construction and have fun while doing it.

The Builder Boards website has a bunch of great information and background. Jack McKee is located in Bellingham Washington so for those of us in the Northwest it is a locally hand made product! Or Jack has written a book with directions on buiding your own Builder Boards. Below are a few of my favorite quotes from Jack's experience using the Builder Boards with kids.

"I took the playhouse to class and, made a mistake a more experienced teacher wouldn’t have, by asking, “who wants to help build a playhouse?” Naturally enough, everyone did. Chaos ensued. Kids bumped into each other, walked on boards and no one could see which board to put on next. I discovered eight preschoolers were too many for one playhouse. But once we got down to three or so they were able to work together and plan their creation."

"Using their imaginations, children hardly ever built the standard playhouse, instead building a house with two doors, and windows everywhere and a house with no doors or windows at all. Once they built a house with a tunnel entrance and a flat roof. After that came caves, castles, forts, towers, a reptile museum and a hot dog stand. The idea of building a playhouse gave way to the idea of building from a child’s imagination."

See Builder Boards in action on this video!

Follow this link for a series of photos of a boy and his dad building their own builder boards and building a play house.